ASA Citation Generator

Paste a DOI, ISBN or web address — get an ASA 7th-edition reference and in-text citation in one click. Free, no signup.

Or pick a source type and type the details yourself.

Authors

Reference list entry

Your citation appears here as you type.

In-text citation

—

In short

Paste a DOI, ISBN or URL, check the filled-in fields, and copy an ASA Style Guide (7th ed.) reference such as Desmond, Matthew. 2012. “Title.” American Journal of Sociology 118(1):88–133, plus the in-text citation (Desmond 2012:95). Add each source to a References list that stays in your browser and copy it with italics into Word or Google Docs.

ASA Citation rules at a glance

  • In the text, cite the author's last name and the year with no comma between them: (Desmond 2012). For a quotation or a specific passage, add the page after a colon with no space: (Desmond 2012:95).
  • Two authors: give both names (Innocente and Baker 2018). Three authors: all three names the first time, then the first author followed by “et al.” Four or more authors: always the first author followed by “et al.”
  • The list at the end is headed References, in alphabetical order by the first author's last name, double-spaced with a hanging indent.
  • Write the first author's name last name first (Desmond, Matthew) and every other author in normal order, using full first names when they are available. Join the last author with “and”, not “&”.
  • The year follows the authors. Article and chapter titles go in quotation marks; book and journal titles are italic.
  • Journal articles are cited as volume(issue):pages, for example 118(1):88–133. Include the DOI when there is one.
  • Books give the place of publication and the publisher (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press). For New York City write only “New York.” Chapters read “Pp. 55–64 in Book Title, edited by …”.
  • Access dates are not required for web pages unless the content changes often, such as a wiki.

Summarized from the ASA Style Guide, 7th edition (American Sociological Association, 2022), and university library guides based on it.

Examples

Real sources, formatted by this generator (page 12 shown in the in-text citations):

Journal article, one author

Desmond, Matthew. 2012. “Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty.” American Journal of Sociology 118(1):88–133. https://doi.org/10.1086/666082

In-text citation (page 12): (Desmond 2012:12)

Journal article, two authors

Innocente, Nathan, and Jayne Baker. 2018. “The Sociology Teaching Fellowship: A Mentorship Model for Graduate Student Teacher Training.” Teaching Sociology 46(4):335–345. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X18791686

In-text citation (page 12): (Innocente and Baker 2018:12)

Journal article, three authors

Marucho, M., C. T. Kelley, and B. Montgomery Pettitt. 2008. “Solutions of the Optimized Closure Integral Equation Theory: Heteronuclear Polyatomic Fluids.” Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 4(3):385–396. https://doi.org/10.1021/ct700202h

First citation (page 12): (Marucho, Kelley, and Pettitt 2008:12)

Later citations (page 12): (Marucho et al. 2008:12)

Book

Desmond, Matthew. 2016. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. New York: Crown.

In-text citation (page 12): (Desmond 2016:12)

Chapter in an edited book

Gray, Robin R. R. 2018. “Repatriation and Decolonization.” Pp. 722–738 in The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation, edited by Frank Gunderson, Robert C. Lancefield, and Bret Woods. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190659806.013.39

In-text citation (page 12): (Gray 2018:12)

Web page by an organization, no date

United Nations. n.d. “What Is Climate Change?” United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change

In-text citation (page 12): (United Nations, n.d.:12)

How to use it

  1. Paste a DOI, an ISBN or the page address and press Cite — or choose the source type and type the details.
  2. Check every field against the source. Metadata databases are not always complete, so fix names, capitalization and pages here.
  3. Copy the reference and the in-text citation, or add the source to your list and copy the whole list at the end.

Frequently asked questions

What is ASA citation style?

ASA style is the American Sociological Association's citation format, used in sociology and related social sciences. It pairs short author–date citations in the text, like (Desmond 2012:95), with a References list at the end of the paper.

Which edition of ASA does this generator use?

The ASA Style Guide, 7th edition (2022). Its changes include writing DOIs as links and listing full author names in the reference list.

How do I cite a source with three or more authors in ASA?

With three authors, name all three in the first in-text citation and use the first author plus “et al.” afterwards. With four or more authors, use the first author plus “et al.” every time. The reference list still names every author (up to ten).

Do I need an access date for websites in ASA?

No, ASA does not require access dates. The exception is a page that changes often, such as a wiki, where your instructor may ask for one.

Is my data stored?

No. DOIs and ISBNs are looked up directly from Crossref and Open Library in your browser. A web address is read once by our server to pull the page title and author. Your reference list is saved only in your browser.

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